January 28, 2007

Scientists traverse East for ice cores By Peter Rejcek Sun staff Antarctic science requires many different methods in the pursuit of knowledge about the seventh continent and its place in the global ecosystem. The deeply browned face and ruddy cheeks of Paul Mayewski tell a story of scientists who understand the value of spending extended time in the environment they study. “That’s very important,” said Mayewski, the director of the Climate Change Institute at the University of Maine. “It allows the scientists to develop, not just a scientific explanation, but an intuition about what the environment is like.

That’s what we do: we’re interpreting the envi- Photos by Dan Dixon / Special to The Antarctic Sun ronment. If you don’t live in it, spend a lot of time in it, it’s very hard to do.” Above, Brian Welch Mayewski and colleagues from three other operates the ITASE institutions completed a month-long overland deep radar system traverse of a short stretch of during the group’s in mid-January as part of the United States traverse of East component of the International Trans Antarctic Antarctica. The ITASE Scientific Expedition (ITASE). Twenty nations tractor train, left, comprise ITASE, a cooperative effort to describe began the journey from Taylor Dome this and understand Antarctic environmental change season. See ITASE on page 8 Evans makes historic Water, water everywhere return to Mount Vinson By Steve Martaindale Sun staff Looking back 40 years, John Evans tells the story that conquering Antarctica’s tallest peak was made possible through a decision based on a nation’s pride. Looking back less than four weeks, he tells the story of an attempted re-conquest that came down to swallowing one’s individual pride. Evans was the chief scientist on a 10-man expe- See MOUNT on page 10

Quote of the Week Inside Lightning “I don’t know why I’d strikes Peter Rejcek / The Antarctic Sun Open water returns to the Cape Royds Adélie penguin rookery. The calving of ever question a DA.” Page 4 giant icebergs in 2000 kept the sea ice from blowing out of McMurdo Sound. – Woman receiving advice from Pilots meet The ice caused a significant decline in the colony’s population because of the Hillary dining hall attendant. great distance from Cape Royds to the ice edge. The icebergs are now gone. Page 7

AntarcticSun.usap.gov 2 • The Antarctic Sun January 28, 2007 At the ice edge

Cold, hard facts Mount Vinson The mountain is located about 750 miles from the . It is about 13 miles long and 8 miles wide. Its summit sits 16,066 feet above sea level, making it Antarctica’s tallest mountain. The mountain was named after Carl Vinson, a U.S. Congressman Photos by Peter Rejcek / The Antarctic Sun from Georgia who was a key sup- porter of funding for Antarctic research. The annual sea ice loos- ened its grip on Ross Mount Vinson is also called Vinson Island a little this summer, Massif. The word massif is taken with open water reach- from French and refers to a large ing about 6 miles from mountain or compact group of McMurdo Station. This connected mountains that form an has allowed marine ani- independent portion of a range. mals to gain easier access to the area, such as orca Mount Vinson is part of the Sentinel and minke whales spotted Range, a large Antarctic mountain near the ice edge. range that stretches out 115 miles long by 15 to 30 miles wide.

Source: wikipedia.org, Geographic Names of the Antarctic

The Antarctic Sun is funded by the National Level 1 Comix Matt Davidson Science Foundation as part of the United States Antarctic Program (OPP-000373). Its primary audience is U.S. Antarctic Program participants, their families, and their friends. NSF reviews and approves material before publication, but opinions and conclusions expressed in The Sun are not necessarily those of the Foundation. Use: Reproduction is encouraged with acknowledgment of source and author. Senior Editor: Peter Rejcek Editors: Steven Profaizer, Steve Martaindale Copy Editors: Ben Bachelder, Traci Macnamara, Cori Manka, Rob Jones, Melanie Miller, Erin Popelka, Bethany Profaizer Publisher: Valerie Carroll, Communications manager, RPSC Contributions are welcome. Contact The Sun at [email protected]. In McMurdo, visit our office in Building 155 or dial 2407. Web address: AntarcticSun.usap.gov Subscribe: Click on the link on the right side of the homepage and follow the directions. January 28, 2007 The Antarctic Sun • 3 American, Kiwi visitors get up close to research A 50th anniversary celebra- tion for Scott Base drew visiting dignitaries from New Zealand and the United States, which share a close relationship in the Antarctic partly due to the proximity of the countries’ two main stations. In addition to attending the celebration on Jan. 20 at Scott Base, the American delega- tion – which included National Science Foundation Director Arden Bement – toured the science and support facilities at McMurdo Station and visited several scientists in the field. The other Americans in the party included William McCormick, U.S. ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa, along with two members of the U.S. State Department, Claudia McMurray, assistant secretary of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, and Glyn Photos by Peter Rejcek / The Antarctic Sun Davies, deputy assistant secre- Scientist Bruce Marsh, kneeling, describes his work to Bement, center, and McMurray while the rest of his tary of East Asian and Pacific science team looks on at right. Marsh is studying planetary magmatism in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. His Affairs. group creates three-dimensional maps to assist in their research.

Manager of USAP Science Field Support, Brian Johnson, far right, Crary Science and Engineering Center supervisor Cara Sucher explains how his department operates to a group of New Zealand and gives a tour of McMurdo Station’s main science building to, from American dignitaries in front of the Berg Field Center on Jan. 20. left, McMurray, Clark, her husband Peter Davis and Davies on New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, center, looks on. Jan. 20.

Scientist Andrew Nigel Watson, execu- Fountain, left, provides tive director of the commentary about New Zealand Antarctic the ecosystem of the Heritage Trust, gives the McMurdo Dry Valleys visiting American del- to Bement during a heli- egation a tour of the res- copter ride that included toration work under way visits to several field at ’s camps on Jan. 21. historic hut at Cape Royds on Jan. 21. 4 • The Antarctic Sun January 28, 2007 Network uses radio waves to log lightning By Peter Rejcek Sun staff Scientists creating a network to triangu- late and pinpoint lightning strikes around the world are using a very narrow band of radio waves to detect the phenomena over long distances. The small network of very low frequen- cy (VLF) receivers includes stations in the Antarctic, including at Palmer Station. VLF generally refers to radio frequencies in the range of 3 to 30 kilohertz. Stanford University graduate student Ryan Said is building the lightning detec- tion and geo-location network as part of his Ph.D. thesis for the VLF Research Group, one of several groups in the Space, Telecommunications and Radioscience (STAR) Laboratory, a research team within the Department of Electrical Engineering Courtesy of Ryan Said / Special to The Antarctic Sun at the university. Umran Inan is the director of the lab and the principal investigator for the lightning triangulation program. Every lightning strike generates a strong electromagnetic pulse, according Above, Ryan Said kneels by an array antenna to Said. He takes the recorded radio pulses near Palmer Station in 2004. Said’s network created by an individual lightning strike of very low frequency receivers uses the elec- from three or more geographically separate tromagnetic pulse generated by a lightning receiver stations to triangulate its location, strike to triangulate the strike’s location. he explained. “So, with our receiver at Palmer, another receiver in Alaska, and a third receiver in Indiana, I can detect and triangulate most Courtesy of NOAA lightning activity in the United States,” These particles then separate. The upper from the lightning strike that travels along he said during e-mail and phone inter- portion of the cloud acquires a net positive the ionosphere (which exists along the views. “At Palmer, with the incredibly charge, and the lower portion of the cloud inner edge of the magnetosphere) will quiet noise environment, we can detect becomes negatively charged. This separa- interact with these trapped particles, essen- most cloud-to-ground lightning flashes as tion produces enormous electrical potential tially driving them deep enough into the far as Canada.” both within the cloud and between the atmosphere to cause the LEP event. In Pinpointing lightning strikes is not new. cloud and ground. Eventually the electri- some limited cases, the lightning geo- The U.S. National Lightning Detection cal resistance in the air breaks down and a location system can detect the electron Network, operated by a commercial busi- flash begins. precipitation. ness called Vaisala, uses more than 100 The network also offers further opportu- More receivers are planned for the net- ground-based sensors to monitor lightning nities for atmospheric research, according work. Another VLF Research Group grad- continuously across the continental United to Said. uate student, Andrew Gibby, will travel to States. The system is used for everything “From a scientific research standpoint, the later this year to from air traffic control to help with fore- lightning strikes are a source of several install a parallel antenna and data receiver casting severe weather. interesting physical phenomena, and hav- at Vernadsky Station, in coordination with But such a ground-based, high radio fre- ing a database of lighting strike locations the Ukrainian National Antarctic Program. quency network cannot cover the distance and times will aid in the investigation of The network already includes stations in across oceans, Said pointed out. “That’s these phenomena,” he noted. Antarctica, Alaska, California and Indiana where the VLF content shines because One such phenomenon is called an – enough to provide coverage across North it can travel these great distances and LEP event – lightning-induced electron and South America as well as the east- allow us to geo-locate regions of the globe precipitation. A small portion of the energy ern Pacific Ocean. International partners that aren’t easily accessible by close-range created by a lightning strike as it travels include Israel, though the establishment of receivers.” He is still tweaking the accu- along the Earth’s ionosphere “leaks” into a global geo-location network is out of the racy and efficiency of the system and will the region of space that’s closest to the scope of his project at this time, according publish the final results by June 2008. planet, the magnetosphere, which is domi- to Said. Lightning is an electrical discharge nated by the Earth’s magnetic field. In the “With a few stations we can geo-locate between positive and negative regions of a magnetosphere, high-energy particles from in a huge region at a relatively low cost,” thunderstorm. As the ice particles within a solar winds bounce back and forth between he said. “Global coverage is a long-term cloud grow and interact, they collide, frac- the northern and southern hemispheres like goal.” ture and break apart. The smaller particles ping pong balls, trapped by the magnetic NSF-funded research in this story: tend to acquire a positive charge, while the field. Umran Inan, Stanford University, www- larger particles acquire a negative charge. However, some of the leaked energy star.stanford.edu. January 28, 2007 The Antarctic Sun • 5

around the continent

PALMER Royal visit at Palmer Station By Kerry Kells Palmer correspondent Palmer received an important visitor on Jan. 20 – Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh. The princess was visiting Palmer Station for the first time. Princess Anne, patron of the United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust, was on an eight-day tour of the Antarctic Peninsula aboard the British Royal Navy’s HMS Endurance. The princess’ stops included the British Antarctic Survey’s year-round Rothera Station; the Ukranian Station, Vernadsky; Palmer Station and several historic sites in the area. Accompanying the princess were her husband, Rear Adm. Timothy Laurence of the British Royal Navy; Jane Rumble of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Christina Hammock / Special to The Antarctic Sun Philippa Foster Back, chair of the UK Penguins jump from the water as they swim in front of Palmer Station on Jan. 22. Antarctic Heritage Trust; Capt. Nick Lambert of the Endurance; the helicopter sengers from the motorized yacht Whale boating coordinator went out to meet the crew and a Royal Navy photographer. Song. This was followed by a cruise ship, LMG with a specially equipped Zodiac to This is the second visit to Antarctica the National Geographic Endeavour, assist in sampling along the grid for the by Princess Anne, including her visit to which had been chartered by members day. Ross Island in February 2002 for the 100th of the World Presidents’ Organization. Palmer rounded out the week with a anniversary of Robert Scott’s arrival in These individuals had all been presidents sunny day and low winds on Sunday, per- McMurdo Sound. or CEOs of a business before they were 40 fect for boating. The Antarctic Heritage Trust researches years old. and seeks to preserve the Ross Island his- On Jan. 18, the cruise ship Ushuaia toric huts at Hut Point, Cape Evans and visited Palmer Station. The following day, SOUTH Cape Royds, among other sites. the sailing yacht Le Sourire, with mostly Princess Anne was given a tour of French-Canadian passengers, arrived for Palmer Station. A reception rounded out a quick tour of the station. The Rotterdam Film festival highlights week the visit, after which the princess and her stopped near station that afternoon and By Susannah Coates husband departed the station. members of the community went out to the South Pole correspondent There were plenty of other visitors over ship to give presentations. Don’t blink! You might miss some- the last week as Palmer’s tourist season On Jan. 16, the R/V Laurence M. Gould thing. Despite the end of the season rap- remained in high gear. came within sight of Palmer Station again idly approaching, stuff is still happening Some of the cruise ships sent passen- while taking high-density gridline mea- at Pole. gers for tours of Palmer Station and some surements for the Palmer Long Term The new IceCube Lab has begun oper- received off-shore lectures. Ecological Research project. ation. The 10-meter-wide mirror of the We began the week hosting eight pas- Krill researcher Alex Lowe and our See CONTINENT on page 6

the week in weather

McMurdo Station Palmer Station South Pole Station High: 45 F / 7 C High: 47 F / 8 C High: -12 F / -24 C Low: 19 F / -7 C Low: 33 F / 0 C Low: -24 F / -31 C Max. sustained winds: 31 mph / 50 kph Max. sustained wind: 20 mph / 32 kph Peak wind: 21 mph / 34 kph Min. wind chill: 7 F / -14 C Melted precipitation: 1 mm Max. physio altitude: 3,160 m 6 • The Antarctic Sun January 28, 2007 and until now, thoroughly elusive resident From page 5 of the polar plateau. SHIPS Continent • “Ursus Maritimus” chronicled the South Pole Telescope is in place, and its havoc and mayhem wreaked by a polar 218 panels positioned and calibrated to bear arriving on station, and the adventures NBP within a fraction of a millimeter. of the hapless “Not So Great White Hunter” Compiled from reports by Jim Dolan Station operations continue apace. called in to remedy the problem. Marine projects coordinator Planes have brought about 8 million pounds • “Airdrop” was a wonderful montage The Nathaniel B. Palmer began the week of passengers, fuel and cargo to station this of still photography and movies taken the continuing its study of geological features season. On Jan. 20, the South Pole was day of the first C-17 airdrop on continent. of the seabed around the Adare Trough in 1,175,698 pounds ahead of schedule. • “Turkey Dance” revealed a strange the . On Jan. 18, weather reports This is a record-breaking year for family tradition of our lovely safety guru, indicated a large storm moving in, so the flights, with 202 arriving before Christmas, Lynette Stauch. crew decided to put some distance between compared to the next biggest season in • “Chasing Cars” showcased Forrest the NBP and the westward moving storm 1998-99 with 153. Banks’ cinematographic acumen as he pre- by steaming east. While stuff comes and stuff goes, some sented a story completely out of order, in But the plan to escape the weather by things stay. Traditions carry on, provid- which all the pieces made sense at the end. retreating was met with ice conditions that ing continuity from year to year, and this • “Most Wanted” was a guessing game forced a re-evaluation of the course, and the week saw one of the highlights of summer for the audience, as unidentified Polies NBP returned west to the Adare Trough. – SPIFF! The South Pole International revealed not-so-widely-known facts about Wind and rough seas again increased the Film Festival is amateur movie-making at themselves. following day and deployment of scientific its finest. • “Zebragone” took us on a rather sur- equipment had to be abandoned. By the end The premiere of this season’s SPIFF real tour of the station and its inhabitants. of day, winds were blowing at a steady 40 submissions was Jan. 20. • “Fat in the Saddle,” a sastrugi Western, mph, and the seas were rocking the NBP Well before the dining hall cleaned made use of the Conestoga wagons that one with steep 15-foot swells. up from dinner at 7:30, “campers” were of the science groups actually uses. On Jan. 20, the winds again increased staking out tables and settling in for the • “Shark Attack” was a chilling tale of in strength and held steady throughout the long haul. Some chatted and others broke horror unleashed because we dug too deep. day. The NBP remained in stand-down for out cards or dominos. Spirits ran high as • “Real Men Wear Speedos” ... well, two days until better weather arrived on attendees awaited the film festival to begin that’s rather self-explanatory, is it not? Jan. 22, and scientific operations resumed. at 9 p.m. • “Hotel California” chronicled what At last, the windows were blocked with really went on in the 27-bunk dorm room at LMG cardboard, the lights turned down and the McMurdo Station when it was filled with Compiled from reports by Andrew Nunn volume turned up. It’s fortunate we had a en route Polies for several weeks, earning Marine projects coordinator microphone for the emcees, otherwise no the nickname, Man Camp. The Laurence M. Gould continued on one would have been able to hear them • “SPANFF” took a well-rounded look its Palmer Long Term Ecological Research over the enthusiastic cheering and whistles into extreme puppet sports. cruise this week, serving as the platform of the gathered masses. • And finally, “The Secret Life of Bunny for a wide variety of science. It began with a spoof of a spoof. Boots” revealed what we have long sus- The ship dropped off a group of bird • “Bouncing Round the Pole” was an pected about the curious abundance of this researchers on Avian Island on Jan. 20. The inspired take-off of an “extreme trampo- breed of footwear. team transported to the island via Zodiac line” mockumentary from the Banff Film The film festival served as a nice dis- once the LMG was near the shore. Festival shown earlier in the season at traction as we headed into another week The birders will remain on Avian Island McMurdo and subsequently at Pole. of preparing the station for the rapidly for five to six days to take a census of the • “Ring-Tailed Lemur” proved to be an approaching winter and the last flight of the birds as well as conduct a number of other excellent and informative look at this rare, summer on Feb. 17. scientific studies.

What Antarctic science interests you and why?

“The social “The sub-glacial “Anything hav- sciences.” lakes are really ing to do with interesting to climate change. me. You never If we don’t know what kind study it, some of (little) mon- people will never sters we could believe humans discover down are causing it there. It’s like and can fix it!” Richard Lamanna Alex Lowe finding a micro- Charlie Redell McMurdo Station Palmer Station bial Sasquatch!” South Pole Station recreation coordinator krill field team leader kitchen materialsperson Seattle, Wash. Seattle, Wash. Seattle, Wash. second season first season first season January 28, 2007 The Antarctic Sun • 7 Air Force gets thrill from Hillary’s visit By John Henzell Special to the Sun McChord Air Force Base pilot Lt. Col. Greg Pyke has flown countless trips to Antarctica, but nothing prepared him for the cargo he had the honor of carrying on his final mission Jan. 18. Pyke learned that Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary was due to return to Antarctica to celebrate the 50th anniversa- ry of the New Zealand base he built there. Then the Tacoma, Wash.-based C-17 pilot learned that he had been chosen for the privilege of taking the 87-year-old adven- turer on what is expected to be his final trip to Antarctica. “I’ve been doing this for a while. I’ve got over 50 missions to Antarctica, but I’ve lost count,” Pyke said. “This is my last flight before I retire from Antarctic missions. When they heard Ed Hillary was going to Antarctica, my squadron commander said I’d be flying it, and I should pick the guys I wanted to fly John Henzell / Special to The Antarctic Sun with.” Hillary, it turns out, has a sizeable fan club at McChord Air Force Base, which includes Pyke. Competition for the other places on the flight deck became fierce. “One of them was an instructor coming Above, Sir Edmund Hillary (left) sits in the down here. He’s a big mountaineer, and cockpit of a C-17 aircraft with aircraft com- he’s read all Hillary’s books,” he said. mander Lt. Col. Greg Pyke and co-pilot Lt. “So when he found out Hillary was Col. Lane Seaholm (obscured). Hillary came going to Antarctica, he called and said he’d to Antarctica last week to observe the 50th do anything to get on that flight – anything anniversary of the founding of New Zealand’s Scott Base. – to see him and meet him. He just couldn’t believe it.” Left, Hillary descends onto the ice at Pegasus The flight included New Zealand Prime White Ice Runway on Jan. 18, with New Minister Helen Clark, who also visited the Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark behind flight deck. him. Pyke said it was an honor and a privi- lege to chat with the first man to climb Everest and the first man to drive to the South Pole. Hillary said visiting the flight deck was a highlight. Peter Rejcek / The Antarctic Sun “It was quite exciting. I’ve been on didn’t get on the flight gave us books for Asked if he had envisioned returning to flight decks in other parts of the world but him to sign. We also had him sign the $5 Antarctica 50 years after building the first not here,” he said. note. He was just wonderful about it.” Scott Base, Hillary laughed and replied, “I Hillary returned the favor by signing Seaholm plans to frame the signed front didn’t even know I was going to be here books, copies of the New Zealand $5 page, to be flanked by photos of Hillary on after 50 years.” note – which carries an image of Hillary, the flight deck. Despite landing in one of the most the only living person other than Queen As the jet approached the ice runway, isolated places on earth, Hillary emerged Elizabeth II to have appeared on New Hillary and Clark accepted an invitation from the jet to face a phalanx of cameras Zealand currency – and even the front to return to the flight deck to watch Pyke and journalists, who had accompanied him page of the Christchurch newspaper that land on the ice runway for the final time in and the New Zealand prime minister for featured a photo of Hillary. his career. the visit. Pyke’s co-pilot, Lt. Col. Lane Seaholm, Afterwards, Hillary stepped gingerly Once he had completed media inter- said the experience would be one of his onto the frozen sea ice that serves as a views, a tracked snow vehicle ferried favorite flying memories. summertime runway for the American and Hillary to New Zealand’s Scott Base, “What an honor to meet him and what a New Zealand stations, a huge smile break- where he settled into a lounge chair with nice guy,” he said. “He’s a legend and what ing out across his face. a cup of tea and declared he was “ready to a privilege it is to meet someone like that. “It feels great. I can hardly believe it,” not do anything.” “We’ve got lots of fans of his back at he said. “It’s a great thrill to come back and John Henzell is a reporter for The Press McChord Air Force Base. People who to see all the old mountains.” in Christchurch. 8 • The Antarctic Sun January 28, 2007

Photos by Dan Dixon / Special to The Antarctic Sun The series of photos on this page and the next show driller Mike ing a core out of a snow pit. The ITASE team took four deep cores of Waszkiewicz operating the Eclipse three–inch ice core drill and pull- 100 meters in depth along its traverse route. ITASE after continent’s recent climate record From page 1 concentrations from the major eruption of The group started the scientific traverse in a regional and global context over the Indonesia’s Mount Tambora in 1815. on Dec. 13 from Taylor Dome, an ellipti- last 200 to 1,000 years. “This means we can calibrate our cal ice ridge that rises about 2,400 meters They can reconstruct the climate and records back to that,” Mayewski said. above sea level. Its equipment had been atmospheric conditions by collecting sam- And in the last millennium, there have left at Taylor Dome following a logistics ples and data through a variety of methods been documented natural climatic cycles of traverse from the South Pole during the such as drilling ice cores to 100 meters, warmer and colder periods. The scientists 2003-04 austral summer season. using ground-penetrating radar that peers want to characterize these natural varia- Dan Dixon, an ITASE veteran, also to the bedrock underneath the ice sheets, tions to determine if future climate anoma- participated in the South Pole to Taylor and mapping the topography of the surface lies are analogous to the past or not. Dome journey, collecting ice cores from with high-precision GPS. East Antarctica along the 2,500-kilometer The program’s overarching goal is to Down to a quadrillion route. A doctoral student from the Climate develop a baseline of data about Antarctica’s The Antarctic continent is far from Change Institute, Dixon researches past climate to help interpret whether future being one huge, homogenous ice cube. Antarctic climate using ice core chemistry. changes around the continent are part of ITASE scientists have found from their Lab analysis of the cores has revealed a natural pattern or anomalies caused by first series of traverses from 1999 to 2003 the start of anthropogenically introduced human influences as the global climate across great variability in chemicals such as lead, although increased changes, according to Mayewski. snow accumulation rates as well as some levels of pollutants such as nitrate and sul- “Our goal, along with all the other of the reasons behind that variance. They fate, which are very high in the Northern ITASE countries, is to put together a recon- determined precipitation in the interior of Hemisphere, are not yet rising over struction for climate in at least the last 200 the continent is relatively stable but also Antarctica. Advances in lab analysis allow years,” he explained, “… if not back to a identified some regions of the Antarctic Dixon and others to make chemical mea- thousand years, and use that to understand that may be on the verge of dramatic surements of the atmosphere in the ice how the system operates and to determine change. cores down to one part per quadrillion. whether the changes that are occurring “It’s an immense place, and there’s a lot “We’re almost down to atoms,” Dixon now are unique.” of variability. It’s so dynamic it may not said. The timelines are not arbitrary. The be that easy to tell how much it’s going 200-year timeframe encompasses a period to change,” said Mayewski, the principal Down to the bedrock when the human fingerprint from pol- investigator of the 13-person team that The team also uses several different types lutants should begin to show itself in the traveled on sleds and farm tractors – two of radars for its work on the ice sheet. One chemistry of the ice cores. The relatively Caterpillar Challenger 55s – across 460 is ground-penetrating radar that looks at the brief time period also lends itself to eas- kilometers of snow and ice. upper 15 meters of ice. It is used primarily ier dating of the layers of the ice cores, “This place is potentially a bellwether for operations – snooping out crevasses. which scientists read like tree rings. For for what’s happening in the whole planet,” The radar is attached to a 10-meter-long example, researchers can identify sulfate he added. See EAST on page 9 January 28, 2007 The Antarctic Sun • 9

Photos by Dan Dixon / Special to The Antarctic Sun The series of photos on this page and the previous show driller Mike ing a core out of a snow pit. The cores will tell the team something Waszkiewicz operating the Eclipse three–inch ice core drill and pull- about the climate up to a thousand years ago. East Antarctica more dynamic than first thought From page 8 tion while dragging the radar along the “For understanding the ice core record, boom in front of a PistenBully that rides at traverse route. we have to know what the surface slope the head of the heavy traverse train. Brian Welch from St. Olaf College in is from where the cores are [taken],” “This is a critical piece of safety equip- Minnesota operated the deep radar system, Hamilton explained. ment for the team as crevasses, cracks in which trailed behind on a separate sled at In a related ITASE project, Hamilton the ice, can be so large here that the trains the end of one of the two tractor trains. revisited previous traverse sampling sites could literally be swallowed up,” wrote The instrument can detect whether water near the WAIS Divide field camp in West Lora Koenig on the team’s online journal sits between the top of the bedrock and the Antarctica with graduate student Leigh while it was at Taylor Dome preparing for bottom of the ice sheet. That’s important Stearns. The surveys will help the research- the traverse. Koenig, a doctoral student for understanding ice flow: the ice moves ers calculate ice flow velocities and deter- at the University of Washington, is inter- faster if it’s not frozen to the bedrock. mine rates of ice sheet thickness change. ested in how space-borne satellites monitor “At Byrd Glacier, the bedrock is really, Another one of Hamilton’s research snow properties over ice sheets. During really bright,” said Welch, who accom- goals is to understand the contribution of the traverse, she also used high-frequency panied the ITASE team on three previous ice sheet melt to sea level rise. Satellite radar to penetrate the top meter of snow to traverses of West Antarctica. “That means imagery can determine thickness but not image grain size, stratigraphy and thermal there’s water down there. If there’s water density, hence the need for the ice cores. conductivity. She will compare those mea- there, the ice can start flowing much faster. His graduate student, physicist Dan surements to models of microwave remote “[East Antarctica] looks a lot more like Breton, built an ice core density analyzer sensing data of the ice sheet to determine what you would expect if you were doing that the team uses to image the ice cores the accuracy of the latter. seismology in sand dune areas than what during the traverse. Another radar penetrates about 100 you would expect to see in East Antarctica,” The density gauge uses low-energy meters, the same depth of the deepest cores he added. “East Antarctica is a much more gamma rays to determine the ice density, the team took this season. Finally, deep- dynamic place than we thought it was.” not unlike a bone density scan that uses penetrating radar can see down thousands X-rays to determine density by the absorp- of meters to the sub-glacial bedrock. The Down to the core tion of the beam. Each density test on a radar operated continuously and picked out Gordon Hamilton is another ITASE one-meter-long sample can take upwards details of the bedrock the scientists had not member with previous Antarctic field of 45 minutes to complete. seen before, as well as the existence of a experience in the program. A research The first-year Ph.D. student said he couple of small, sub-glacial lakes. associate professor at the Climate Change had a relatively short time to assemble “We’re interested in understanding, from Institute, Hamilton studies the topography the instrument and looks forward to mak- this radar, the ice dynamics,” Mayewski of the ice sheet to understand how it affects ing some tweaks before next year’s field said. Based on data from previous ice the speed of the wind across the surface, a season, which is scheduled to end at South cores, the team can use the radars to find factor in the transportation and accumula- Pole. certain reflectors in the ice that it can date tion of snow. He also uses high-precision “It’s really been a scramble to design to a certain time period. The scientists then GPS to create a detailed map of the sam- it, engineer it, fix everything that didn’t calculate the changes in snow accumula- pling areas. See SOUTH on page 11 10 • The Antarctic Sun January 28, 2007

Courtesy of Val Carroll / Special to The Antarctic Sun Val Carroll / Special to The Antarctic Sun The original members of the American Antarctic Mountaineering Expedition pose for a photo John Evans, 68, sports a busted lip and a on their return to McMurdo Station on Jan. 17, 1967. Pictured are (standing from left) John sun-scoured face shortly after his return Evans, Dick Wahlstrom, Nick Clinch, Barry Corbet, Pete Schoening, (kneeling from left) to Denver, Colo., from attempting to sum- Charley Hollister, Sam Silverstein, Brian Marts, Bill Long and Eiichi Fukushima. The 1966- mit Antarctica’s highest peak 40 years after 67 expedition made the first ascents of Antarctica’s four highest summits, including Mount becoming one of the first people to do so as Vinson, Mount Tyree, Mount Shinn and Mount Ostenso, along with two other peaks. part of an American science expedition. Mount Vinson ’66 climb sparked interest in Antarctica From page 1 finally doing this after all this time, and on “All of a sudden,” he said, “mountain- dition in December 1966 that became the the way down, I’m going to sing Christmas eers worldwide ... saw the pictures and first to summit Mount Vinson, the 16,066- carols because I can get my breath.’ read the write-up about the mountains in foot-tall crown of the in the “But then, it just wasn’t working out, the Sentinel Range and little mental light , located between the and I wasn’t going very fast. ... It just took bulbs started going on all over the world: Antarctic Peninsula and the South Pole. us forever. I don’t think any of us – certain- ‘Now, wouldn’t that be cool to get in there He and three other members of the ly not myself – realized just how slow we and do it.’” original team – Eiichi Fukushima, Brian were going. It was hugely disappointing.” Numerous individuals and groups Marts and Sam Silverstein – had an oppor- He was quick to compliment guides tried to put together expeditions to climb tunity last month to repeat the climb of Timothy Hewette and Patricia Soto Borquez Vinson. Evans was a charter member of Antarctica’s tallest mountain. Silverstein from Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions, a one of those groups, whose proposal to the was never able to acclimatize and with- commercial venture that escorts adventure National Science Foundation (NSF) was drew from the base camp before the ascent tourists to Antarctica and which sponsored denied in early 1966. But as other coun- began. In addition, two other original the anniversary trip. tries started talking about sponsoring such climbers were represented: Bill Long’s “The facts of the matter are that we a climb, it kindled official interests in the son Brooke and Pete Schoening’s daughter weren’t really going very well,” he said, United States. Lisa. adding that Hewette gave the team mem- He said it was apparently decided that, The team moved on to high camp and bers adequate opportunity to achieve the in view of all the work the U.S. Antarctic made their assault on Christmas Day. summit before coaxing them into retreat- Program had invested in the continent, Evans, 68, summed up the result without ing to camp. Things turned out differently “Wouldn’t it be a shame if, after all this, sugar-coating. 40 years ago, as was well documented in a some other country came in and planted “Well, we didn’t make the summit and feature article in the June 1967 edition of their flag on the top of the highest peak?” the reason why, I guess, is because we just National Geographic magazine. Meanwhile, Evans had returned from a didn’t have enough juice,” he said. summer job at McMurdo Station to con- Things had progressed incredibly well Making history tinue working on his graduate degree in before the altitude and the climb took their The existence of the Sentinel Range was geology at the University of Minnesota. toll, he said by phone from the Denver not even known until the mountains were Late in October 1966, the expedition was office of Raytheon Polar Services Co., seen and photographed on reconnaissance given a tentative green light, thanks in part where he coordinates special science proj- flights of U.S. Navy aircraft from Byrd to a partnership between the NSF and the ects. Station in January 1958, according to the National Geographic Society, which ulti- “I remember feeling more than good, United States Board on Geographic Names. mately agreed to provide funding. feeling just super,” he said. “This was Evans said photographs were printed in an “I was totally surprised that funding Christmas Day as we were starting out international mountain climbing publica- came through,” he said. “But once it did I and I was thinking, ‘This is so cool; we’re tion in the early 1960s. See TYREE on page 11 January 28, 2007 The Antarctic Sun • 11 South Pole next stop for ITASE in 2007-08 From page 9 work and get it ready to go,” he said of the homemade density analyzer. This was Breton’s first season in Antarctica. Expecting temperatures on the polar plateau in at least the negative 40 degrees Celsius range, he built a large, insulated wood box to hold all of the electronics for the density analyzer. It turned out the austral summer was not so harsh, and Breton’s equipment overheated. He had to drill holes in the box to provide ventilation. “Until you have a firsthand knowledge of what it’s really like [here],” he noted, “it’s difficult to design instrumentation that’s really fit for what you’re doing.” Down for next season Andrei Kubatov said that ITASE is not only a unique platform for science but an excellent opportu- nity for teaching young scientists in the field. “It’s very important,” said Kutabov, a research assistant professor with the Climate Change Institute Photos by Dan Dixon / Special to The Antarctic Sun whose work revolves around how volcanic eruptions ITASE scientist Gordon Hamilton, left, takes a survey reading to determine the rate of snow accumulation on the . force climate change. Mayewski likened the experience to an apprentice- ship. “We like to think we’re producing field savvy scientists who can take care of themselves really well in these extreme environments and understand how to have a good time and do a lot of good science,” he said. For Koenig, the University of Washington graduate student, the traverse got her out from behind a com- puter screen and into an environment where “every day was different.” “I usually look at ice sheets from a satellite,” she said. Welder Edgar Vega makes a visit Next year, the ITASE team will have to cover far from McMurdo Station to Taylor more ground to reach the South Pole from where it Dome to help repair ITASE equip- left its equipment and vehicles. Several other countries ment before the traverse began. are also doing ITASE traverses next year in conjunc- tion with the International Polar Year, according to Mayewski. “There’s plenty more to learn in East Antarctica,” Mayewski said. “Every year the program gets better A GIS map shows the ITASE tra- and better.” verse route from Taylor Dome. A late start prevented the team NSF-funded research in this story: Paul Mayewski from completing its goal of 1,030 and Gordon Hamilton, Climate Change Institute at kilometers. Courtesy of Jess Walker / Special to The Antarctic Sun University of Maine, www2.umaine.edu/USITASE. Tyree still tops Vinson climb for proudest moment From page 10 this outcrop became a part of the research and there have been only seven people in wasn’t surprised that I made the cut. I was proposal which also included collecting the history of the world that have stepped doing a lot of climbing at the time, and other rock samples and taking other mea- on that one, as opposed to thousands on besides, I was the only one who had actu- surements. The proposal was accepted. Vinson.” ally worked in that range.” What they found when they arrived Some of those thousands of people, However, he was caught off-guard, he was a relatively easy ascent to the sum- who spend large sums of money to attempt said, when, “to my surprise and horror, I mit of Vinson, the highest peak, but they Antarctica’s tallest peak, helped make clear was drafted to be the chief scientist.” With also climbed several others that were “way to Evans the historic nature of his initial the help of his advisor at school, he put more interesting from a mountaineering climb. together a research proposal in one day standpoint.” During the anniversary trip, he said his and air-mailed it to the NSF to meet a last- The 15,919-foot Mount Tyree was and team met many travelers from other groups minute deadline. remains a significant challenge. who asked to have their photos taken with “Fortuitously, the very oldest rock expo- “The second-highest peak on the con- Evans and the others. sure in the entire Sentinel Range is right at tinent is the real deal,” Evans said. “Two “I never felt like such a hero in my life,” the base of Vinson,” Evans said. Sampling of us luckily got to the summit of that ... he said. 12 • The Antarctic Sun January 28, 2007 Profile Scientist revisits Antarctica By Steve Martaindale they are updating his original Sun staff film for the International Polar A business card can some- Year, which begins in March. times tell a lot about a person, more than just name, rank and Early days phone number. Take the card Sladen says there were two handed out by Bill Sladen. stages to his Antarctic career. The first thing that catches The first was set by him initial- one’s eye is the artwork, a sil- ly pursuing a medical degree houetted image of a person in in his native England during an ultralight aircraft, followed World War II. by seven long-necked birds in “Being a medical man,” flight. It lists the Web site trum- he says, “I got the job [in the peterswans.org. Antarctic] and then I was able to Then one notices the name: do the biology I most wanted.” “William J.L. Sladen, M.D., His first year in Antarctica D.Phil.” At the bottom of the began in the 1948-49 summer card, it is noted that he is a as part of the Falkland Islands professor emeritus at Johns Dependency Survey, now called Hopkins Medical Institutions. the British Antarctic Survey. Peter Rejcek / The Antarctic Sun In the middle is his contact “For the British, I was medi- William J.L. Sladen, right, shows Sir Edmund Hillary where he signed information ... to one side. On cal officer and biologist – ama- a book when the conquerer of Mount Everest visited Sladen at Cape the other side is complementary teur biologist, because I didn’t Crozier years ago. The two octogenarians – Sladen the scientist and information for Environmental have a degree in biology – and Hillary the explorer – revisited Ross Island recently. Studies at Airlie, a division of photographer.” His group put the International Academy for in at Hope Bay on the very tip gram of USARP and, of course, winter in British Columbia, Preventive Medicine. of the Antarctic Peninsula. a study of the Adélie penguins Washington or California. At 86 years old, Sladen “It ended up with a lot of at Cape Crozier,” he says. His work teaching migra- would be promptly forgiven tragedy,” Sladen says. “I start- Sladen says that they placed tory routes to young geese, for handing out cards that ed my penguin work, and the identification bands on 5,000 cranes and swans earned him say, “Retired – No Job – No colony was about a mile from young penguins each year at a footnote in pop culture as Worries,” but a quick conversa- our hut. I lived in a Scott polar Cape Crozier in order to build a well when he served as wildlife tion gives the impression that tent there. One day, I came population of known-age birds. consultant to the popular 1996 he has no interest in slowing back in a blizzard and found “Actually, we made the first movie, “Fly Away Home.” down, especially while visiting the whole hut blazing. Actually, banding in 1959 with Navy As in the fictionalized the continent he first saw just it was a tragic fire. The rest of help from the icebreaker Staten movie story, his program has shy of 60 years ago. our team was out surveying by Island, but started seriously used ultralight aircraft, as well A noted ornithologist, he is dog sledge, and we lost [scien- in 1960. That continued until as ground-based methods, to at McMurdo Station for the tists Oliver Burd and Michael 1970, when I did my last sea- teach routes to birds. Unlike first time since 1970 (though Green] on that occasion. I was son there.” The close monitor- many smaller birds that migrate he sailed the for by myself in a tent for about ing that goes with the program instinctively, birds such as the his 80th birthday) to complete two or three weeks.” is quite interesting, he says. trumpeter swan must be taught something of a circle in his He spent the next year “If you know these birds as migration routes. Sladen says work with Adélie penguins. at Signy Island in the South individuals, it’s really fascinat- that once these orphaned birds, From 1959-1970, Sladen Orkneys. He did research on ing, absolutely fascinating,” he whose parents have died or conducted an ongoing study of penguins those two years that says. “The older birds come become unable to fly, are led penguins at Cape Crozier and earned his doctorate in zoology back each year and tend to from their breeding grounds to Cape Royds. An avid photogra- at Oxford. He also researched keep their original mates. The winter nesting areas, they find pher, he filmed “Penguin City,” upper respiratory bacteria and ‘divorce rate’ in the younger their way back and will repeat which was broadcast on CBS pathogens in his teammates to birds is about the same as in the course the next year. and BBC TV. finish the requirements for his America. That is why we called Currently, he’s seeking fund- During the last two years of second medical degree. it ‘Penguin City.’” ing to test a hypothesis that his study, he was assisted by Then came the event that set the birds can learn the routes graduate student David Ainley, the second stage of his Antarctic To the Arctic passively. The plan involves who resumed the penguin stud- experience. He received a In the late 1960s, Sladen also suspending caged birds under- ies a couple of years after Sladen Rockefeller Fellowship to come spent time in the Arctic, study- neath a dirigible type of airship left and has maintained them to the United States in 1956, ing swan and goose migration, and traveling the migration since. Sladen’s most recent trip and he got involved in the first as he studied the South Polar route. Such a procedure would to the Ice was to assist film- stages of the U.S. Antarctic skua in Antarctica. be much safer for humans and maker Lloyd Nales with a new Research Program. In 1975, he was invited to less expensive, he says. film, “Penguin Science,” about “At that time, I helped estab- Wrangel Island in Siberia, where Maybe there’s room at the Ainley’s work. Sladen says lish the first bio-medical pro- Russian snow geese breed. They bottom of his business card.